Vitamin A Deficiency

New Guinea

Mongolia

Vitamin A

Iron

Myanmar

	EPIDEMIOLOGICAL DATA


Clinical Vitamin A Deficiency
Most Recent Clinical VAD Survey
	Date:	1997 - 1999
	Groups Surveyed:	Children 6 - 72 mos
	Sample Size:	576 children
	Sampling Method:	National survey carried out in children of Ulaanbaatar and 12 aimags. Children were randomly selected.
	Estimated Prevalence of VAD:	Presence of at least one of the following clinical indicators
		1. Conjunctival xeroxes with bitots spot
		2. Corneal xeroxes/ ulceration/ keratomalacia
		3. Corneal scar

Region/Group*	Sample size	Population in region/group (if available)	Prevalence in sample %
1998 (XN)	576		0.16%
1999 (XN)	4194		0.5%

Sub-clinical Vitamin A Deficiency

Most Recent Sub-clinical VAD Survey - Same as above. Collected serum retinol concentrations.

Estimated Prevalence of Sub-Clinical VAD: 19.8% (Indicator is serum retinol <0.7mmol/l)

Legislation on VAD
	There is no VAD legislation in Mongolia, however there has been government documents published stating the national policy regarding VAD.


Government Agency to Address VAD
	Public Health Institute, MOH. There functions are both coordination and monitoring.
	Contact Information: Dr. Amardulam


Supplementation
Program Description
	Children 0 - 12 months received 100,000 IU's while those over 1 year received 200,000 IU's.
	31.6% of children 6 - 59 mos. received one high dose capsule every six months within six months of the survey. Source: MICS 2000.
	The estimated number of children supplemented is 256,773, twice per year.


Targeting
	Approximately 250,000 - 300,000 children 6 - 59 mos. and 50,000 lactating women are targeted.

Implementation

Vitamin A capsules are given through National Immunization Days.

Capsule Information

Vitamin A Supply (for target year)
Source	Supplementation: Capsules No. & Value of Capsules (000)
Source	200,000 IU		100,000 IU		50,000 IU
	No.	$	No.	$	No.	$
Imported into country	3444		289		495
Locally produced	None		None		none
Totals	3444		289		495


Fortification
	There are no vitamin A fortification programs.


Other Programs
Dietary Change
	There are programs to promote improved vitamin A status through TV and IEC materials.

Community-Based Programs
	There are community - based programs to improve dietary change. These are run by health centers and health professionals.

Clinical and Sub-clinical VAD
	The surveys described before are not being repeated.
	The indicators used for monitoring clinical VAD are nightblindness and signs of xerophthalmia (e.g Bitot’s spots); however, the last clinical survey for VAD was done in 1993 and was not done in 1998.
	The indicator used for monitoring sub-clinical VAD is serum retinol, 7 - day food frequency..

Supplementation
	There is coverage of supplementation programs, however it was not reported how.
	In 1998 coverage of supplementation was 87.3%.

Fortification
	No fortification.


Donor Agencies
	UNICEF supplies vitamin A capsules, IEC activities, training for health workers, monitoring and research.

EPIDEMIOLOGICAL DATA